how to cook wood ear mushrooms

Chinese Braised Chicken with Mushrooms

Posted:3/28/2021 Updated:3/28/2021

This Chinese Braised Chicken with Mushrooms is a simple, home-cooked recipe, using just a few ingredients. Serve with rice and leafy greens for a quick and simple dinner.

Note: We first published this recipe in August 2013. We have since re-tested it, re-photographed it, and added metric measurements with clearer instructions.

A Recipe Inspired by the Jade Temple

My mom came up with this Chinese Braised Chicken with Mushrooms recipe after visiting the Jade Temple (玉佛寺) in Shanghai.

The temple got its name from the two jade buddhas that "live" there, each carved from a complete piece of jade and "invited" from Myanmar in the late 1800s. If you find yourself in Shanghai, you have to go there.

Reason 1: You'll get the experience of seeing a working buddhist temple.

Reason 2: Double mushroom noodles!

After you pay a visit to both buddhas, stop at the Jade Temple's kitchen, where they crank out cheap vegetarian dishes. They're most well-known for their noodle soups.

Order a bowl of their Braised Double Mushroom Noodle Soup, and you won't be sorry. Kaitlin gets weekly cravings for it. One summer, she got noodle fever, and made us all get on a 5-hour high speed train from Beijing to Shanghai for that bowl of noodle soup. That's how good it is!

Here is their address and phone number: 玉佛寺 / 上海普陀区江宁路999号/ 02162665596. Just copy it and give it to the taxi driver!

Braised Chicken and Dried Wood Ear and Shiitake Mushroom

Now, obviously this is not a vegetarian dish. But it does feature "double" mushrooms—dried shiitakes and dried wood ears—braised together in a rich, dark sauce.

The chicken wings add a stickiness to that sauce that's hard to resist. It's perfect with some steamed rice. Just add a green vegetable, and dinner's on the table!

Ingredients for Chinese braised chicken and mushrooms

Recipe Instructions

Heat the 2 tablespoons oil in your wok over medium heat. Add the ginger and let it cook for about a minute until fragrant.

Then turn up the heat to high and add the chicken.

Frying chicken wing pieces with oil and ginger in wok

Keep stirring until the chicken is browned, and add the soaked dried shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms. Keep stirring for another couple minutes.

Adding shiitake and wood ear mushrooms to chicken

Then add 1 to 1 ¼ cup of the water you used to soak the mushrooms.

Adding braising liquid to mushrooms and chicken

Also add the Shaoxing wine, sugar, soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. mix everything well.

Stirring seasonings into chicken and mushrooms

Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the wok, and simmer over low heat for about 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the sauce is thick and gooey.

Reduced sauce in wok of chicken and Chinese mushrooms

If the sauce is still too thin after 45 minutes, turn up the heat and reduce the sauce until it coats the chicken and mushrooms. You can also add more water if you like more sauce.

Stir in the scallions, and cook until they're just wilted.

Stirring scallions into chicken and mushrooms

Serve your Chinese Braised Chicken with Mushrooms with lots of rice and a green vegetable!

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 45 minutes

Total: 1 hour 5 minutes

▢ 2 tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola, or any neutral flavored oil)
▢ 3 slices ginger
▢ 1 1/3 lbs chicken wings (drummettes and flats)
▢ 25 small dried shiitake mushrooms (about the size of a quarter, rinsed and soaked in 2 cups of warm water for 2 hours until soft. Reserve soaking liquid! Can substitute 10 large mushrooms)
▢ ¾ cup dried wood ear mushrooms (rinsed and soaked 1 hour until reconstituted)
▢ 1 1/4 cup water from soaking the mushrooms
▢ ¼ cup Shaoxing wine
▢ 1 teaspoon sugar
▢ 1 tablespoon soy sauce
▢ 2½ teaspoons dark soy sauce
▢ 1 scallion (sliced)

Heat the oil in your wok over medium heat. Add the ginger, and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant and beginning to crisp at the edges. Increase the heat to high and add the chicken. Cook the chicken for 3-5 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Add the soaked shiitakes and wood ear mushrooms. Stir-fry for 2 minutes.
Add the 1 1/4 cup of the water you used to soak the mushrooms. Also add the Shaoxing wine, sugar, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Mix everything well, and bring the liquid to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low, cover the wok, and simmer for 40-45 minutes, or until most of the liquid has cooked off. Make sure to stir occasionally, and remember to keep the heat low (add additional water if it dries out too quickly).
Finally, stir in the scallions until they're wilted. Serve!

Calories: 285 kcal (14%) Carbohydrates: 8 g (3%) Protein: 16 g (32%) Fat: 19 g (29%) Saturated Fat: 4 g (20%) Cholesterol: 59 mg (20%) Sodium: 480 mg (20%) Potassium: 253 mg (7%) Fiber: 1 g (4%) Sugar: 1 g (1%) Vitamin A: 140 IU (3%) Vitamin C: 1.1 mg (1%) Calcium: 9 mg (1%) Iron: 1 mg (6%)

nutritional info disclaimer

TheWoksofLife.com is written and produced for informational purposes only. While we do our best to provide nutritional information as a general guideline to our readers, we are not certified nutritionists, and the values provided should be considered estimates. Factors such as brands purchased, natural variations in fresh ingredients, etc. will change the nutritional information in any recipe. Various online calculators also provide different results, depending on their sources. To obtain accurate nutritional information for a recipe, use your preferred nutrition calculator to determine nutritional information with the actual ingredients and quantities used.

About Sarah

Sarah is the older daughter/sister in The Woks of Life family. Creator of quick and easy recipes for harried home cooks and official Woks of Life photographer, she grew up on episodes of Ready Set Cook and Good Eats. She loves the outdoors (and of course, *cooking* outside), and her obsession with food continues to this day.

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